Jessica (Jess) Peters, Ph.D., came to Brown University for psychology internship, stayed through a postdoctoral fellowship and, now, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and a member of the department’s academic faculty. Peters’s cat, Calliope, has been along for the journey; at the start of this conversation, Calliope mews for a lift to the desktop so she can weigh in on Peters's accomplishments, including ongoing K and R01 awards, clinical work with LGBTQ+ youth in Providence, and DEI work at Brown and in the community, including the department’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Committee.
Q: Could you tell us about your research background?
My initial research focused on borderline personality disorder (BPD) and understanding the mechanisms of it. I’m queer, and one of the things I noticed as a clinican treating the disorder was the disproportionate number of queer individuals in our groups, and I wanted to understand more about that. I also realized we needed more clinicians who had the competencies to work with queer clients, because I saw things around me that were not great — people without the level of knowledge to create a really safe space, which is what we all need in therapy, where we’re not feeling like we need to be on alert for microaggressions or have to explain or justify our background. When I came to Brown for internship, it remained a point of concern for me.
Q: When did you begin researching LGBTQ+ related topics?
It wasn’t part of my research focus until, as a postdoc at Brown, I started working with my mentor, Shirley Yen, and another then-postdoc, Ethan Mereish, on a project looking at factors linking experiencing discrimination and stress to suicide and self-harming behavior, and specifically identifying ones we, as clinical psychologists, could potentially target in our therapies so we can provide the help and support young people need. Adolescence is a particularly precarious time for queer individuals because they have less control over their environment; maybe they have families that are invalidating or even abusive, or they’re in peer groups where they are targeted and bullied. I think, for many people as they get older and become adults, they have more options; they can build chosen families. So we were trying to figure out what they might need to get them through this period so they can thrive as queer adults.
Q: How did this play into your clinical practice?
As I was doing that work, I started a side gig at Youth Pride Inc. here in Providence, where I provide clinical work with youth and young adults at no cost who are coming in and finding community in our space, but also many of whom are struggling with a whole wide range of issues and need support. Some of these kids are enrolled in mental health care but don't feel like their sexuality or gender identity is something they can talk about with their providers.
So having a space where that's the norm — and myself, as a clinician, not hiding the fact that I'm queer — is such a meaningful thing for these kids. It's a really unique and very cool experience and I'm grateful to have that position. Youth Pride is an amazing organization; they also provide a basic needs pantry and groups for adolescents to connect, whether it's on topics around sexuality or gender or just, like, Dungeons and Dragons or crafts or cooking.
Q: How has this figured into your work with trainees at Brown?
I've supervised postdoctoral trainees who are interested in increasing their competencies with LGBTQ+ youth, and that's been a fantastic experience for everyone involved. Beyond my own work, there's clearly this strong effort at Brown to engage with these topics. For example, I was really pleased to see there was a workshop provided recently on gender affirming care. I am excited that there are current plans for more programming like that, as well as building other kinds of support for LGBTQ+ people within the department.
Q: In addition to your clinical work, you’re also an active member of the Brown Psychiatry and Human Behavior academic faculty. Could you share a bit about your research?
I have an NIMH K23 award that's looking at the function of anger dysregulation in the development of borderline personality disorder in youth and really investigating a theory I've been working on since grad school. For some individuals, getting caught up in anger might feel better in a moment when they might otherwise feel anxious or uncertain or ashamed. And anyone can engage in emotion regulation this way; I always give the example of reading the comments on your newsfeed that you know will get you mad. But it becomes a concern when people do it habitually, which we see in some of the clinical populations who are struggling. It becomes a pattern that then leads to more conflict and impulsive behavior and other problems, so I'm looking at that theory in adolescents to see if maybe this is one of the earlier parts of development of borderline and related issues.
I also recently got an R01 to look at menstrual cycle exacerbation of borderline personality disorder. This came out of research showing that while the menstrual cycle doesn’t affect psychological functioning for the majority of people, it can for some in a very intense and difficult way. That seems especially common for people who have emotional disorders. We have some initial data suggesting that for people with BPD who menstruate, the menstrual cycle may often have a significant impact on their symptom levels. We are working to understand this better, both in terms of what patterns we see in a bigger sample and the mechanisms that cause this sensitivity to changes in hormones.
This intersects with the LGBTQ+ piece, as well; if you look through this literature, a lot of researchers refer to “women” in their articles. But not all women menstruate, and not all people who menstruate are women. We know that people who are queer are at a higher risk for a wide range of psychological problems likely because of all the stressors they experience, so it stands to reason that, if the menstrual cycle can worsen symptoms of an ongoing problem then not only could it impact folks regardless of gender identity, but maybe especially people who are non-binary or trans-masculine who still menstruate. It could also be a source of distress particularly for people who get increased gender dysphoria during their period.
So we're being very careful to recruit people broadly, to make sure we're getting a representative, large sample that includes gender minorities who menstruate. We are also working hard to make sure all of our study protocols and materials don't assume gender.
Q: Is there an effort in the field to make study materials more inclusive?
In my lab, and with my close collaborators at other institutions, we are working on recommended language and approaches for people in general who study reproductive psychology, so that we make sure we're recruiting samples that are representative of the full population who menstruate and that we're referring to them in ways that are respectful and acknowledge the breadth of who's in our samples. I’m also on the clinical advisory board of the International Association for Premenstrual Disorders, and I helped put together some guidelines on our website about gender identity.
Q: You’re also an active participant in Pride here in Rhode Island. Could you share a bit about your Pride Weekend (June 17–19)?
Yes! My partner performs locally as a drag king, and I’ll occasionally get onstage too, so we had a show on Friday at Askew, a great bar in the Jewelry District. We also helped put together a more women, non-binary, queer block party for Saturday with the amazing people who run Askew, because that was missing from Pride Weekend.